BRIDGEWATER – For Bridgewater State University student Katelyn Keane, a 100-foot tree crashing into the school’s Rondileau Campus Center on Thursday morning sounded like an earthquake.

“The building shook, and we thought it was an earthquake,” said Keane, 21, who was in class when the tree came down.

“All you could hear was loud crashing noises,” said fellow student Brian Sanborn, 24. “We didn’t know if it was the ventilation system or heating ducts kicking in, but the noise didn’t stop and you could hear it scraping the building.”

“It’s really sad,” said student Steve Curtin, 25. “The tree was really old and has been here for so long ... that awkward tree on the sidewalk.”

The 200-year-old tree was protected 30 years ago during a construction project.

“In the early ’80s we built the sidewalk to go around the back side of that tree,” said Matt Leahy, a plumber on the BSU staff for the past 31 years.

“The tree is at least 200 years old and it was saved because of the age of it,” said Leahy.

“That tree had a presence there, and you didn’t walk by that tree without noticing it,” said Eva Gaffney, director of communications at the university.

“It had a real prominent spot,” she said of the tree’s placement on the sidewalk along the rear side of the campus center.

“This was a big oak tree, and our facilities people call it an act of God,” said Gaffney. “Because we have old trees on campus and that tree has always passed those (inspection) tests, but when it came down, (the facilities staff) noted the whole base had rotted.”

Gaffney said the recent stormy winter likely contributed to the tree coming down.

“We were lucky there were no injuries,” said Gaffney, adding that the branches just grazed the roof and side of the building.

The third floor of the building was unoccupied at the time. because the space was sporadically used for transitional offices during renovation work on campus.

“It was unexpected,” said student Dan McCarthy, 23, of West Bridgewater.

McCarthy said he noticed the tree on the way to class, just minutes before its fall.

“I come by here from the parking lot every day,” said 20-year-old student April MacDonald of the spot the tree occupied.

The historic significance of the tree was not forgotten on the university campus.

Page 2 of 2 - “This campus was built in the center of town and our New England towns were all built from the center out,” said Gaffney. “These are prized historic areas and just across the street is a historic cemetery and we try very hard to maintain the historic integrity of the buildings and the natural surroundings.”

“It’s amazing how quickly this is being taken care of,” said Doug Shropshire, who works in the finance department at BSU. “Thankfully, nobody was hurt.”

“According to our facilities department, it looks like $40,000 to $50,000 of damage including tree work and repairs to the HVAC pipes and roof work,” said Gaffney.

“We worked hard with the town and university officials and National Grid came and took care of the power line entangled in the tree,” said Gaffney, who said the site would be all repaired and fully-secured by Thursday evening.

“It’s the busy week of Springfest on campus,” said Gaffney, “and we can’t afford parts of the campus being down here.”

Leahy said it was a blessing that nobody was hurt.

It is a particularly busy time on campus with Springfest activities and end-of-year ceremonies, but the tree also fell during class time.

“As far as the building goes, the tree fall interrupted the emergency generator so we shut that off and it crushed the HVAC equipment on that side of the building,” said Leahy.